Oldham: Failsworth’s oldest pub Anglers Arms closed after mass brawl involving 40 men brandishing blades

Following a meeting on Tuesday (April 8), Oldham Council’s licensing committee temporarily suspend the licence at The Anglers Arms, in Wrigley Head, Failsworth.

The decision followed ‘serious concerns’ raised by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) about the premises.

The brawl between ‘up to 40 males’ took place shortly before midnight on April 6.

Residents reportedly told police the group of men had exited the Anglers Arms, before fighting on the street and brandishing blades.

GMP attended the scene at 11.51pm, where a ‘male had been stabbed to the side of his abdomen’.

They later confirmed that two men had been taken to North Manchester General Hospital with stab wounds and a head injury. The victims were aged between 23 and 28 years of age.

One man is currently in custody following the incident.

Officer Julian Addison told the licensing committee: “On Sunday, April 6, at 11.45pm, there were four separate reports from residents of up to 40 males fighting outside the Anglers Arms

“Within the calls there was mention of knives being shown/used.

“Four crimes have been recorded – three section 18 assaults and one possession with intent to supply class A drugs.

“The one incident took several police patrols on a Sunday evening to deal with the victims at two different hospitals, scene preservation and house to house enquiries, which meant Oldham did not have sufficient police patrols to service the public for the rest of the evening and into Monday morning.”

He added that GMP had been monitoring the pub for 18 months.

While the brawl was ‘the most serious incident’ to date, officer Addison noted other crimes such as drug taking in the pub car park had been observed by police.

The pub was not able to represent itself at the meeting, but provided a statement read out by Elise Brophy, the principal licensing officer.

The statement read: “Kindly consider that we’ve owned the pub for over a decade and nothing of this incident has ever occurred.

“Anglers Arms is currently the oldest pub in Failsworth with a long historical record of being a family pub. I’ve met and heard stories of customers in their older ages being christened in the pub. Customers of three generations still patronise the pub.

“We are hereby appealing that you allow us to keep the tradition going and not let our customers and staff down. We will always do all that’s required to abide by licence terms.

“This incident is something that could have happened in any pub or places of interest but it should not be used as a basis of licence withdrawal.”

The committee decided to suspend the pub’s licence until the pub can find a new licence holder, who will need to be approved by GMP. They also called for a substantive hearing, which will determine whether to change the conditions or revoke the pub’s licece more permanently.

A date for the substantive hearing has not yet been set.